Daily Number

56%

December 16, 2014

Business leaders, most legislators, and transportation advocates may be unhappy to learn that despite their recent campaign to fix our transportation infrastructure, most New Jerseyans are still against a hike in the gas tax, according to a new Rutgers-Eagleton poll.

Only 41 percent said they would favor a gas-tax hike even after being told the state’s gas tax is among the lowest in the country.

Nevertheless, the campaign, which has targeted the gas tax as one of the few solutions available to fix the state’s crumbling infrastructure, appears to have moved the needle somewhat. In October, only 38 percent of poll respondents were in favor of the tax hike. But David Redlawsk, director of the Eagleton Center for Public Interest Polling called the uptick “not statistically significant.”

One reason for the opposition, according to the poll’s analysis, is that New Jersey drivers don’t seem to think the roads are that bad. Fifty-four percent replied that state roads -- not including the Turnpike or Garden State Parkway -- are in either good (48 percent) or excellent (6 percent) shape.